Feb
01
TV: About Last Night....Mo
Whereas the US approach to political drama has tended to concentrate on the fictional, its history on this side of the Atlantic has a strong tradition of dealing with real events and real people. Following in the footsteps of The Deal and The Queen comes Channel 4’s Mo, as refreshingly honest a portrait of the late Mo Mowlam as the woman herself deserved. Although by now it goes without saying, Julie Walters excelled in the title role – yet another part it seems she was born to play. Although Mowlan’s illness provided the backdrop to the story from the very start (and also given the severity of the political situation), Walters brought a huge amount of humour to the piece, inspired of course by her subject’s outlook on life.
Split between her personal and public battles, the two hour film (which encouragingly attracted the channel’s highest drama ratings for nine years) sort to place one in the context of the other. Her role in the Northern Ireland peace process was given suitable prominence, recreating many of the period’s key moments – her visit to the Maize, dealings with Bill Clinton and first meeting with Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams.
It was events taking place behind the scenes that proved the most engaging, however – her touching, if troubled, relationship with her husband Jon, desire for children and the fear that her father’s drinking problems would ultimately appear in herself all painted an individual lacking the self-confidence that she often displayed to the world at large. As one of the final scenes revealed, though, much of this came as a side effect of a brain tumour that had existed fifteen years before it had been detected, leaving Mowlam herself to wonder as to the true nature of the personality that the public had fallen in love with.
Yet, as Mo ably demonstrated, they fell in love with her because of that persona. From her first impromptu Belfast walkabout to her unceremonious replacement by Peter Mandelson, Mowlam always gave the people of Northern Ireland her best – willing to accept apparent humiliation for the good of the process, as the male protagonists jockeyed for position (putting their “cocks on the table” as she memorably described it). Having tasted such success, however, life after Northern Ireland was not quite so sweet. Sidelined by Tony Blair, she was to eventually resign from government and live out her final years in awkward celebrity.
To the film’s credit, it didn’t gloss over this last chapter, presenting Mowlam as an increasingly bitter woman, bedevilled by failing health and a growing drink problem. It says much for Walters skilful portrayal that, even despite her often vile outbursts, that the viewer never lost sight of the spirited, caring woman who had inspired so many throughout her life. How many politicians’ demise can move so many to genuine tears, both in reality and on the small screen? Not many but then again, Mo Mowlam really was one of a kind.
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